De Bruyne double fires Wolfsburg to first European win

vor 2 Stunden Kevin De Bruyne was at his string-pulling, goalscoring best as Wolfsburg beat FK Krasnodar on Thursday evening

Krasnodar - Kevin De Bruyne bagged a brace as VfL Wolfsburg picked up their first UEFA Europa League win of the current campaign at the third time of asking, toppling Group H counterparts FK Krasnodar by a 4-2 scoreline.

Andreas Granqvist netted at both ends either side of De Bruyne’s first of the night after 46 minutes, while further second-half strikes from Luiz Gustavo and the Belgian international rendered Wanderson’s late effort a mere consolation as the Wolves emerged victorious in Europe.

Experienced trio come up trumps

Dieter Hecking’s charges were afforded no time to settle and, with Krasnodar’s industrious string-puller Ari persistently causing problems, Diego Benaglio had to be sharp in denying both Mauricio Pereya and Ricardo Laborde. Ivan Perisic’s wild drive was as close had Wolfsburg had come to finding the net, but when De Bruyne found a pocket of space to sting Andrey Dikan’s palms, Granqvist could only bundle the ball into his own net under pressure from Olic.

Keen to build on their momentum, Wolfsburg extended their lead less than a minute after the restart, as De Bruyne broke the offside trap to waltz into the box and place the ball in at the near post. A Naldo handball allowed Granqvist to reduce the arrears from the spot, but after Luiz Gustavo had produced a stunning effort to make it 3-1 and De Bruyne had doubled his personal tally for the evening, even Wanderson’s late consolation couldn’t stop the Wolves from triumphing over an enterprising European underdog.